Market researchers qualify and quantify the collective voices of consumer and business markets to guide their businesses to success. And in business structure, we normally reside in Marketing. So, by default, we are considered marketers.
But how good are we at marketing our work and services, and most of all our insights, within an organization?
My experience in the corporate market research/marketing world and discussions with numerous colleagues suggests that market research is often undervalued or ignored, or seen as simply something to do on the checklist. “Hey, did you do the research on this?” “Yes, sure, and they liked it.” The report goes promptly on the shelf and lies unseen, unread and unheard.
Is this because market research is not valued sufficiently within the corporate world, or because market researchers need to apply the lessons of marketing?
Market research lies at the intersection of analysis and marketing. Often, market researchers are very skilled at analysis, can run the numbers just so, but when it comes to providing the added value, the critical insights, the a-ha moments from a customer or market perspective, researchers often run into difficulties.
I’ve seen this often in my career. And, for longer than I care to admit, I was the guy without any answers.
Perhaps the most egregious example of failing to properly market market research is when corporate cultures are so enmeshed in group-think fallacy (www.iep.utm.edu/f/fallacy.htm) that the group’s perception of market conditions overwhelms any rational challenges to the perception. This may even lead to attempts to discredit the market researcher for a “bad” questionnaire, mishandling the data collection, or finding some other excuse to dismiss the results so that the group perception can “rationally” be maintained.
Part 2 of this blog will follow shortly.
